Ten Years of Patience
For ten years of blogging My Beloved has encouraged me to write whatever God led me to share. He has patiently waited for lunches and suppers through the years while and watched babies and children so I could finish typing post after post before the words flew away. It isn't My Beloved's birthday yet, but he has to be included in the ten year blog anniversary. He is as much a part of this blog as I am. Thank you My Beloved for supporting me and patiently enduring throughout these 28 plus years of marriage.
September 16, 19?? is a day that ought to be memorialized in history. Why? It's the day My Beloved was born. Unlike so many women I meet, I actually like my husband. As a matter of fact, I love him deeply. Next to Christ, He is my best friend and lover, along with confidante and partner. Together, he and I, are an unbeatable team. We don't always see things the same way. Not every season of our relationship has been harmoniously beautiful. Truth be told, in many ways we are complete opposites. Each of us is accompanied by our own set of personal faults and quirks. Yet when put together, we are a perfect match. In My Beloved's areas of weakness, many of my strengths are found. Just as in my areas of weakness, My Beloved excels. God's divine plan is made visible as we live our lives together day by day.
Too often Christians forget a very important truth. They forget that marriage between a Christian man and woman is to be a physical example of Christ and the church to the world. Our marriage unions are to be real live, in the flesh object lessons. The Holy Spirit taught me this during one of the more difficult seasons in marriage as I was furiously and frantically searching the scriptures for something to help make marriage easier. There is no way it is supposed to be this difficult! Is there? Did I find anything to make it easier? No, nothing on that, but Ephesians chapter 5 had much to say about being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ and as a service to the Lord. Verses 21-33 in the Amplified Bible left no room for error or doubt. Christian marriages are to be an example of Christ and the church to the world. Whoa, now that was a load to process! A lot of man-made philosophy and marital ideas had to be flushed down the drain of my mind after studying those scriptures. Much of what had to go had even come from Christian sources. As well meaning as the men and women had been and as much as they longed to minister to marriages, their counsel simply did NOT line up with the truth of God's Word. Another opportunity to "rightly divide the Word of Truth" was given.
Not only was there a lot of well-meaning yet ungodly counsel to sort through and eliminate; an entirely new way of seeing, processing, and relating was needed in order for me to obey God's Word for wives. This is an ongoing process that will continue "until death do us part". While looking for easy, I discovered simple. Obeying the Word of God is rarely easy, but it is always simple. Allowing God to mold and make me into a Godly wife has been no exception. I am so thankful that it is supposed to be a process. If immediate perfection were required, this girl would be in big trouble.
As I think about my honey today and how much I love him, I can't help but also think about how very, very glad I am that his mother gave birth to him. My mother-in-love has given me one of the greatest gifts other than Jesus. She has given me her son. Whenever I think about my own sons belonging to someone else, I realize what an immense gift a person gives their child's spouse. They are giving their child, their own flesh and blood, the one they carried in their womb for over 9 months, and the one whom they labored to birth. Years of sacrifice, prayers, and tears are invested and spent just so that child can grow up, leave, and create a family with someone that the parents may not even know. Talk about giving of yourself. What trust and faith a parent must have. What a responsibility a husband and wife have as well. The one to whom they have covenanted in marriage with is a beloved son or daughter. Someone has given of themselves completely. That's a big deal. We ought not to take it lightly, but be ever grateful.
Grateful I am. It may be My Beloved's birthday today, but I'm the one who has received the greatest gift. I have been given My Beloved. God has entrusted me with loving this man; with respecting and reverencing him, with noticing, regarding, honoring, preferring, venerating, and esteeming him. I am to love and admire him exceedingly. (not just a little here and there) Eph. 5:33 AMP I'm not sure why He would bestow this privilege on me, but He has. And I'm grateful. There is a long ways to go before I love my husband perfectly. (I Corinthians 13) Maybe that's why it takes a lifetime.
No matter what, I'm committed and resolved knowing that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. (Philippians 1:6)
Thank You, Father for My Beloved. "I am my beloved's and He is mine. His banner over me is love."
There was a way I walked along
It seemed I was alone
No other seemed to go that way
I often felt forlorn
Day after day, year after year
I trudged on down this path
The Father made it very clear
The loneliness would not last
As the days then years began to pass
Impatience grew and grew
I felt as though my time had passed
and tears I often knew
I slipped and took a little trail
God's path I still could see
Yet way down deep inside of me
A still small voice said "this path is not of Me"
This loving voice it said
I had a choice to make
This path you're on, it changes soon
It's a trail you must not take
You must come back, get on My path
Please have faith in Me
If you return, I will provide
Exactly what you seek
True Love will come. It will not wait
Just please have faith in ME
The voice it spoke with so much love
The truth I could clearly see
God's love shone through as the darkness fled
On this path to eternity
Back to the Lord I gave my heart
He kept it safe for me
We traveled along His path of Love
My heart He did make strong
It didn't take long for me to know
My Father had been right all along
He was enough
His way was good
With Him there's always light
Trust and faith will see me through each and every night
One day while strolling down the path
God gently spoke my name
He said look there, look just ahead
I have a gift for you
There stands the man I told you of
The one for whom you prayed
I've kept him safe. He is my own
For you his love he's saved
I didn't know quite what to do
How ever could this be?
I had strayed and left the path
How could he be for me?
Yes I had left and now was back
How could this gift be mine
The wrong could never be made right
I couldn't take back time
Yet the Father in His Love and Grace
He knew my jumbled thoughts
He drew me close, then closer still
And spoke to me so soft
You may have strayed a bit and left
The path I planned for you
But you returned and now you're washed
in the blood Jesus shed for you
No matter what, you are my child
Through Christ you've been made new
So, Go, Go, and meet this man
The one I've planned for you
He is the one whose heart
I've knit into your own
He is a gift from me to you
Together you will spread my love
The years have flown and God was right
Together, this gift and I
Have spread God's love wherever we've gone
From dawn to the darkest night
As we walk along God's path of love
Many times we marvel still
How God could knit our hearts as one
And His love make us closer still
The path is long and sometimes hard
It isn't for the weak
We will not quit nor do we look back
Our eyes we must keep straight
As we walk together along God's path
This gift of mine and I
Together we spread our Father's love
Together, my beloved and I